In the Battle Through the Heavens Plane, the Central Plains.
In a gloomy, eerie canyon.
The sun never reached this place, and the air was thick with the stench of blood and baleful energy.
The Soul Hall's Human Hall!
Boom!
Soon, Qian Renxue's figure slammed down onto the plaza at the center of the canyon.
The violent spatial fluctuations instantly destroyed the disguise Soul Tool she wore.
As a flash of light flickered, the gentle and refined Crown Prince Xue Qinghe vanished.
In his place stood a peerlessly beautiful woman with golden hair, breathtaking features, skin as fair as snow, and even six pristine white wings growing from her back!
The Six-Winged Angel, Qian Renxue!
"Damn it, my disguise is broken!"
The moment Qian Renxue landed, before she could even take in her surroundings, she noticed the change in her body. Her face went deathly pale.
But what filled her with even greater despair was the sight that met her eyes when she looked up.
All around her stood hundreds of Soul Hall Protectors, packed tightly together. They wore black robes and held Soul Hooking Chains!
On the raised platform in the plaza, an old man in blood-red robes stood wreathed in countless vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts, staring at her with the covetous gaze of someone who had found a peerless treasure!
He was the deputy hall master of a Soul Hall branch, Old Ghost Zhaixing.
"Heh heh heh—"
Old Ghost Zhaixing let out a laugh that made one's scalp crawl. "Who would've thought a gift from the heavens would fall right into my lap, and come with such rich light energy?"
"If I offered up such a pure soul to the hall master, it would surely earn me great merit!"
Feeling the hundreds, even thousands, of wicked gazes around her, Qian Renxue forced down her fear. A divine sword appeared in her hand, and the six wings behind her spread wide, bursting with brilliant holy light. "I am the successor of the Angel God!"
"Evil creatures, accept your purifi—Ah!"
Before she could finish, Old Ghost Zhaixing waved a hand. A gigantic black ghostly hand appeared from thin air and slapped Qian Renxue to the ground like a fly!
"A god?"
Old Ghost Zhaixing took a step and instantly appeared in front of Qian Renxue. His withered claw clamped around her slender neck and lifted her off the ground. "In the Central Plains, the only ones who dare call themselves gods are those who've reached that legendary realm."
"And you think that meager bit of light energy makes you a god?"
"Still—"
Old Ghost Zhaixing stuck out his scarlet tongue and licked his lips. With his other hand, he grabbed one of the pristine white wings on Qian Renxue's back. "These wings do look quite beautiful. They're full of concentrated light energy, too."
"Perfect. My Ten Thousand Soul Banner could use a brighter decoration."
Rrrip!
The next moment, a grating tearing sound rang out.
"Ah!!!"
Qian Renxue let out a piercing scream, her whole body convulsing in agony.
Meanwhile, Old Ghost Zhaixing had ripped one of her angel wings from her back, skin and flesh and all!
Golden blood sprayed everywhere!
"Tsk, tsk. Such pure blood."
Old Ghost Zhaixing casually tossed the still-twitching wing to one of his subordinates. "Take it and refine it."
"As for this woman—"
Looking at Qian Renxue, who was in so much pain she could barely stay conscious, he grinned sadistically. "We'll keep the other five wings and tear them off one at a time."
"One every day. Then I'll use a secret method to grow them back, and tear them off again—"
"An endless supply of light energy like this is a marvelous tonic!"
At the same time, the entire Douluo Continent fell apart at the sight.
The Spirit Hall, the Worship Hall.
"Xue'er!!!"
Grand Worship Qian Daoliu spat a mouthful of blood onto the Angel Statue.
That was his granddaughter!
His only hope, the future Angel God!
And now someone had ripped off her wing as if plucking a chicken!
They planned to tear off one every day?
Treating her like a leek they could harvest again and again?
"Demons! How dare you do this to my Xue'er?!"
Qian Daoliu had gone mad. He attacked the light screen furiously, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, in the imperial palace of the Heaven Dou Empire.
When Xue Ye saw the Crown Prince in the light screen turn into a woman, he was utterly dumbfounded.
"The Crown Prince is a woman?"
"She's from the Spirit Hall?!"
"She's been hiding by my side all these years—"
At the thought, Xue Ye felt the world spinning around him.
But then, as he watched Qian Renxue's wing being torn off, he felt no hatred at all—only deep sympathy.
"Whoever she is—"
"In this higher-dimensional world, whether Crown Prince or anything else, we're all helpless mortals."
"We're all ants—"
Meanwhile, in the Battle Through the Heavens Plane.
The plaza of the Human Hall, in the Central Plains.
A piercing scream echoed through the air. Qian Renxue was drenched in blood. The golden ceremonial dress that had once seemed sacred and untouchable was now in tatters, exposing large patches of snowy skin smeared with blood.
She lay sprawled across the icy stone slabs, golden blood gushing from the wound on her back like a spring.
A flawless white angel wing had once been there. Now it had been torn out by the root, leaving behind only a hideous, bloodied hole.
"Kill me! If you've got the guts, just kill me—"
Qian Renxue raised her head. Her once-proud golden eyes were now bloodshot.
She glared at the old man before her, her voice thick with hatred.
She was the young mistress of the Spirit Hall, the future Angel God. She would rather die than endure such humiliation!
"Kill you?"
Old Ghost Zhaixing toyed with the pristine white wing, still twitching faintly in his hand. He held it to his nose and greedily sniffed the lingering light energy, then smiled perversely. "Heh heh heh, wouldn't that be such a waste?"
"A body with such a pure affinity for light is a rare find in the Central Plains. If I killed you outright, all I'd get would be another corpse."
"Actually, I've just thought of something much more entertaining."
Old Ghost Zhaixing tossed the wing into his mouth and crunched it between his teeth. Then he smiled coldly. "What a load of crap, all that talk about light. It's the most hypocritical thing there is."
"Wouldn't it be interesting if I turned light into darkness?"
"Let me think. Angel of Light, Dark Angel. Tsk, tsk. Not bad."
Before his words had even faded, Old Ghost Zhaixing thrust out his withered claw and grabbed at the air!
"Ten Thousand Soul Devouring Array, rise!"
Rumble!
In an instant, the entire canyon began to shake.
Not only that, the ground around the plaza cracked open, and countless streams of ink-black baleful energy surged skyward!
As the baleful energy rose, tens of thousands of hideously twisted evil spirits shrieked and pounced on Qian Renxue at the center of the plaza!
"No! Don't come near me!"
Seeing them, Qian Renxue was terrified. She screamed desperately, trying to summon the Angel Holy Light to drive away the evil spirits.
But in the Soul Hall's stronghold, filled with wicked power, her holy light was like a candle flickering in the wind. It was swallowed by the darkness in an instant!
"Ah!!!"
Soon, the countless evil spirits engulfed Qian Renxue. Black resentment poured through her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and pores, flooding into her body and eating away at her Martial Soul and soul.
"Light? Holiness?"
Meanwhile, Old Ghost Zhaixing floated in midair, watching the figure struggle amid the black mist as he struck out one strange black rune after another. "Heh heh heh—"
"Turn black for me!!!"